On March 6, 2025, Rev. Lin Shengben, China's sacred music pioneer, passed away in Shanghai at the age of 98. The hymnal books he compiled filled the gap in the church's sacred music needs during the early years of the reform and opening-up, and the sacred music training class he initiated in Xiamen trained a large number of choir leaders for churches across the country.
His memorial service was held at Baoxing Funeral Home in Shanghai on March 9, with pastors and believers from Shanghai, Hong Kong, Wenzhou, and Chengdu in attendance.
Born in Xinhui, Guangdong Province on May 5, 1927, Rev. Lin was remembered as a member of the editorial board of the Chinese New Hymnal and the executive editor of the Selected Hymns. He also composed hymns like "Jesus, the Bright Morning Star" and "Never Cease Praising the Grace of the Lord" that have touched the hearts of countless Christians. He also traveled to various places to hold public lectures on sacred music, conveying the truth of the gospel through musical notes.
In a 2005 recorded video interview with the Hong Kong Church Music Association, Rev. Lin Shengben told the story behind the scene.
At the age of 10, he learned to play the piano from a British missionary whose Chinese surname was Jin in Guangzhou. Her home had the only piano in Deqing County, while there was just an organ in the local church. Grateful for the opportunity in such a turbulent wartime, Rev. Lin, who had a love for music since young, said, "She was willing to teach and cultivate me, and I liked to learn playing the piano at her home."
Lin had three aspirations in his early days of ministry: working in the church, doing theological education, and engaging in sacred music.
Studies at Four Seminaries
Rev. Lin began his theological journey in 1945 at the Alliance Bible Institute in Wuzhou, Guangxi Province. He witnessed a good tradition of the school--emphasis on sacred music, especially valued by then-President Willian Newbern. The years at the Alliance Bible Institute nurtured him in biblical truth, spiritual life, and sacred music, all of which aligned with his aspirations.
Two years later, he was admitted into the Leung Kwong Baptist Theological Seminary in Guangzhou, where he was instructed by Mrs. Xi, the wife of the then president who could sing, play the piano, and conduct. "This enhanced my interest in sacred music ministry. I came up with the idea of advancing at that time."
The president proposed him to continue his education at the China Baptist Theological Seminary in Shanghai. In 1950, he enrolled in the seminary's department of church music, and Professor Ma Geshun, a prominent figure in Chinese sacred music conducting, served as its dean.
"I learned church music from him in those two years. It could be said that Professor Ma was so influential to me that I was enriched in this area. A solid foundation had been laid for improvement, regardless of theory or music skills."
Lin said that the year 1952 was a great turning point for him. As with the bad China-U.S. relations due to the ongoing Korean War, all the foreign organizations and Western missionaries had been expelled from China. The Shanghai seminary failed to operate and was united with 11 other seminaries in East China to form the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary.
There was a choice for all the faculty and students: move to Nanjing or not. "Some teachers moved there, but some didn't. Some students left the school to study medicine, finance, or others. Most of them chose to study finance, and some went out for jobs," he recalled.
Given a piano teaching offer by his friend Professor Jin Shi at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, he was seeking God's will to reconsider whether to continue his studies. After prayer, he reaffirmed his determination for ministry. As a result, he furthered his studies at the Jinling Union Theological Seminary. He encountered many good teachers there, including then-President Chen Zemin and Professor Huang Suzhen, who studied church music in the United States.
After graduation in 1954, he started to work in the Church of Canton Baptist in Shanghai. Since then, he has been engaged in the sacred music choir. Even when he was studying in seminaries, he assisted in the work of church choirs. He was also a member of choirs in Wuzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Nanjing.
Recalled to Sacred Music Ministry After 22 Years of Factory Work
Later there came the Anti-Rightist Campaign, which distributed about 200 pastoral workers to labor in factories until 1958. "I thought to myself, God had His perfect will in this. I would also like to obey the country's arrangement." Then he worked in a factory until 1979, when he resumed the church work in his fifties. Although the will of God was unclear to him, "I believed God would have His perfect will."
Twenty-two years' time in the factory brought new perspectives to his life. "We used to teach brothers and sisters to seek how to glorify and witness for God in the church, and He gave us the opportunity to be His witness among the laborers' group through this job," he recalled.
The church in China was reopened in 1979 after reform and opening up. There was a need for Bibles and hymnal books, which were all burned, for church services. The Bibles could be printed soon, but all the hymnal books compiled by different denominations were gone. The China Christian Council & Three-Self Patriotic Movement made a decision to compile those books and reached out to him. While working in the factory full time, he devoted his only free day, Thursday, to the compilation and printing of sacred music books.
Close to retirement age, he was invited again to work full-time in the church. He assumed the pastoral role at the Shanghai Christian Jingling Church, or the Young John Allen Memorial Church, and half of his time was spent on the compilation of sacred music.
Rev. Cao Shengjie, the first woman president of the China Christian Council, Rev. Shi Qigui, senior pastor of Shanghai Moore Memorial Church, Mrs. Hong Lvming, and he were the four main persons for the work. At a Nanjing meeting with Bishop K.H. Ting, the then TSPM chairperson, the four were told, "This work was the current priority of our church."
As the compiling work was interdenominational to prepare for the future wide usage for unity, "This would be extremely difficult as China has never done this before; if not well done, church unity would be affected," said Bishop Ting, according to Rev. Lin's memory. The work of compiling the hymnal book in the numbered musical notation version was completed in 1982. Three years later, another version was composed in staff notation. Thus, the Chinese New Hymnal was born.
"I was really grateful as I thought there would never be a chance while working in the factory. It never came to me that I could serve the church in this way, and what was more, working for sacred music," he stated.
There was a summer camp for young people in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, in the summer of 1985. Lin was one of the speakers alongside Rev. Chen Zemin, president of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. At the first sight of Lin, President Chen said to him, "Rev. Lin, could we cooperate together to do one thing more?"
"What is it?" Lin asked.
"There is no material for choirs, and we need to do that."
Lin promised to compile a book of selected hymns for choirs for the seminary. He went to Nanjing to discuss this with Bishop Ting, who was the emeritus president of the seminary, and President Chen. "There is a great need for church choirs in such a flourishing growth of nationwide churches. This is a great responsibility to support choirs with all the hymns provided." They discussed the percentage of traditional hymns, modern ones, and those created by Chinese believers in one single hymnal book.
After the discussion, he threw himself into this work. In 1988, the first edition of the Selected Hymns was completed, followed by the subsequent two editions. After the publication, Bishop Ting and President Chen commissioned him to visit places like Beijing, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian to observe how the hymnal book was applied. It turned out to be that many local churches owned this book, but they were unable to apply it due to the limited abilities of their choirs.
Recognizing the Urgent Need for Choirs and Sacred Music Training Nationwide
Rev. Lin noticed that enhancing the church choir's performance was a significant challenge, with a great need for training conductors, organists, choir leaders, and persons in charge.
Actually, seminaries should have taken the responsibility of developing choir talent. Rev. Lin and Bishop Ting highlighted these needs, but at the time, seminaries were "too busy" with training ministers, making it challenging to address the demand for training in sacred music. Additionally, cultivating talent for sacred music was complex, requiring professional instructors, specialized courses, and sufficiently large venues and equipment. However, there were few resources to support this initiative back then.
At the time, Rev. Lin wondered how to address these needs. He decided to begin with the Jingling Church in Shanghai, where he was serving. Through training and preparation, the choir gradually developed into a more complete group with a stable membership and balanced four-part harmony. During this period, Professor Ma Geshun was invited to the church to instruct a conducting class, enhancing the choir's skills. Additionally, Christian instructors from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music were invited to provide vocal training, further improving their abilities.
In 1992, the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary celebrated its 40th anniversary, with alumni from across China returning to commemorate the occasion. Most of these alumni were leaders of churches nationwide, and when Rev. Lin met with them, they all expressed a common concern: "How can we build a choir?" The congregations in mainland China wee often vast, consisting of thousands of believers. As a result, choirs were also large, with some comprising over 30 or 50 members. The challenges of leadership and training were significant issues.
"At that time, I thought of some of the pioneers of sacred music," Rev. Lin shared. "There are few of them in China, and they are quite elderly. They are our treasures, and their valuable experience and knowledge should be shared in their lifetime." During the alumni meeting, he emphasized that the "gap in the sacred music field in China" was a serious issue. Churches had not noticed this problem among various movements, making it even more urgent, he added, urging prayers for this need.
God Prepared Xiamen for Sacred Music Training Ministry
In 1993, the Christian community in Xiamen, Fujian, had several properties that could be reclaimed. The community values sacred music ministry, as the city is known for its musical heritage, particularly Gulangyu Island, where every household has a piano and many musical talents reside. As a result, sacred music was enjoyed by Xiamen's congregation, from lay believers and deacons to elders and pastors.
After the properties in Xiamen were reclaimed, Rev. Lin immediately considered organizing a sacred music training class. At that time, Rev. Chen Yiping, then the senior pastor of Trinity Church on Gulangyu Island, contacted Pastor Lin and informed him of an available venue. Rev. Lin considered holding a training class to cultivate talent and meet the urgent demand first. He then discussed the matter with Bishop Ting, who responded, "Since we don't have the conditions to do this in Shanghai, we will support it wherever the conditions allow." With this approval, they agreed to host the sacred music training class in Xiamen.
At that time, Rev. Lin was in Shanghai, contemplating how to organize the training in Xiamen. Bishop Ting discussed with Rev. Shen Derong, who was serving as chairperson of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement at that time, noting that "Pastor Lin is going to Xiamen to organize a sacred music training class." After receiving approval, Pastor Lin traveled to Xiamen.
In 1994, the first sacred music training class was held in Xiamen. The event was not publicized at the time, and no publications were reported on it, as it was a training initiative organized by the Xiamen Christian community itself. However, many church leaders from across the country later contacted to see if they could send members to Xiamen for training. As a result, people from various provinces and cities flocked to Xiamen to participate. At that time, half of the students in the training class were co-workers from ten different provinces and cities.
The training was held for two months per phase. The course in Xiamen had a significant impact, as the city was relatively open, attracting many Chinese church leaders worldwide. When one of the sacred music training sessions concluded in 1994, attendees from seven countries and regions attended the graduation ceremony.
Rev. Lin recognized that "the Chinese church needs to work on sacred music ministry." At that time, many pastors and experts who visited the training class were also invited to teach the students. For example, Dr. Angela Tam and Rev. Gabriel Chi were invited to lecture in 1995. Additionally, Bishop John Chew Hiang Chea, former principal of Trinity Theological College in Singapore, was invited to deliver lectures on worship.
In addition to the sacred music training class in Xiamen, Rev. Lin also traveled to various places during holidays to participate in short-term training programs. In 2001, he retired for the second time and returned to pastoral ministry in the church. Now that Rev. Lin has completed his work in the Lord and rests in Him forever, his sacred music ministry nurtured an entire generation of churches and believers, and its influence continues to nourish the lives of many Christians today.
(Originally published by the Christian Times, the article has been edited under permission. )
- Translated by Karen Luo, Poppy Chan
